Xiong Jingfei repeated this inside her head as she pulled out her silver butterfly hair and stabbed it into the back of the kidnapper's back.
"Ahhh!" The kidnapper screamed. He didn't think one of them would run back. "You b*tch!"
He immediately released the child's arm and swung at Xiong Jingfei, but she was able to dodge it even if it was a messy movement. She thanked Feng Huan's teaching from the bottom of her heart. After thousands of years, she can still mimic the moves he taught her from the past.
Out of nowhere, an egg-sized rock slammed into the back of the man's forehead and knocked him off his feet.
"Are you just going to stand there!?"
Xiong Jingfei whipped her head back and found that Mae didn't run away with the rest. She smiled, getting herself up from the ground, and grabbed the child's arm. They took off running in the opposite direction of the other girls. Since they were the last to run away from the area, the kidnappers chose to chase them down.
They ran inside the endless forest until they could no longer feel their legs, but that didn't stop them. Even when Xiong Jingfei tripped over a stump, Mae was quick to pull her up as if she was used to it. It wasn't until they saw a bright opening at the end of the forest, but once they reached it, it was nothing more than a dead end.
A dead-end cliff that you couldn't even see the ground below it.
"W-what do we do?" Mae stammered; her eyes began to tear up as she was starting to fear this was the ending. Yet, she found her voice to scream at the traffickers, "Don't you dare touch a single hair of mine! Don't you know who my father is!? He will never let you go!"
"Hah, I am so scared!" One of them started laughing as he raised his hand to slap Mae's mouth. "You should be taught a lesson! It's not too early to give you some training."
Without realizing it, Xiong Jingfei pushed Mae out of the way to avoid taking the blow. Then, right before her, a scene she had seen and experienced before appeared once again. Something warm and wet splattered across her face, and with a head missing from the kidnapper's body.
Feng Huan?
"Feifei!"
Someone dressed in a black robe screamed her name as he reached out his arms for her to take. She found herself wanting to grab onto it but only had the chance to touch his icy fingertips. The sturdy ground underneath her feet disappeared as she felt her body falling off the bottomless cliff.
"Xiong Jingfei!"
The person dressed in black cried as he tried one more time to grab her hands, but from Xiong Jingfei's blurry vision, she saw that Mae blocked his way.
Who is it that was calling her name so desperately? Who...
***PRESENT***
"Xiong Jingfei…"
"Jingfei…"
"Sister-in-law… Ahhh!"
Xiong Jingfei opened her eyes and hit the dashboard with her palm. She turned to look at the frightened Lu Weisheng, who was trying to wake her up gently. She blinked a couple of times, "Lu Weisheng?"
"Y-y-yes," Lu Weisheng nodded his head. "You were sleeping, so I didn't want to wake you up… But we're here."
Here, as in Yang Zheyan's place.
Xiong Jingfei rubbed her temple with fingers to get rid of the headache. It was an after effect once she dreamt or saw something from her past. She opened the door to go inside, but Lu Weisheng grabbed the corner of her sleeve.
"Hey! A-aren't you going to invite me in?"
"Me?" Xiong Jingfei was clear on Lu Weisheng's intention of "inviting" him in. He didn't have a place to sleep since his cards were still frozen. "I'm not the owner, so I can't invite you in whenever I want."
"Who said that you aren't the owner?"
A voice engraved in Lu Weisheng's bone to never touch the woman beside him. He immediately and quietly let go of Xiong Jingfei's sleeve.
"Are you going to get out?" Yang Zheyan bent his knee to be on eye level with Xiong Jingfei. He showed his gentle smile, "I've been waiting for the BOTH of you. How much longer will you keep me waiting for you?"
Lu Weisheng quickly took this chance to get out of the car and stood behind Xiong Jingfei. However, he made sure that the distance between them was not too close nor too far away. His shield was right in front of him, so why would he not put it to use?
Xiong Jingfei smiled and wrapped her arms around Yang Zheyan's left arm, "Sorry that I made you wait for me. I brought you something yummy too."
She gave Lu Weisheng the eye signal to get inside the house along with the food he purchased. If not, he can spend his night outside Yang Zheyan's doorstep.
Once they were inside, Yang Zheyan started his interrogation on both of them right away. He had his arms crossed and dropped his friendly smile, "Where have the both of you been?"
"U-uh…" Lu Weisheng didn't want to tell Yang Zheyan that he took his fiancee to meet his older brother. "We-"
"I was hungry, so Lu Weisheng paid for dinner," Xiong Jingfei completed Lu Weisheng's mumbling. "Did you eat yet? I thought of you, so I brought back freshly packed food."
Lu Weisheng looked over to Xiong Jingfei in horror. The food he bought from a random street vendor was for the clean freak Yang Zheyan!? He was trying to give a signal to Xiong Jingfei for her to abort the plan.
"Here, you should eat it while it's hot." Xiong Jingfei quickly opened a bunch of packed food and put it on the table. She picked up a piece of meat with the wooden chopstick, "This all looks so delicious! Give this one a try, darling~!"
Lu Weisheng stretched out his arms and let out a fake yawn, "W-why am I suddenly feeling so tired? I'll be sleeping in the usual room."
He quickly dashed out of the room and left the situation up to Xiong Jingfei to handle. He wasn't going to wait for Yang Zheyan's reaction to street food.
Yang Zheyan raised an eyebrow and pointed to his mouth, "I'm waiting."
"He's gone, so we can drop the act." Xiong Jingfei was about to put down the chopsticks, but Yang Zheyan grabbed her hand and indirectly fed himself.
Surprised, Xiong Jingfei released the chopsticks, but Yang Zheyan caught it with a sly smile on his face, "Mmm~, it's delicious. I wonder if it has anything to do with the person feeding me?"
Xiong Jingfei narrowed her eyes. Doesn't he feel embarrassed spouting such nonsense? Hmph...
She suddenly leaned in close to Yang Zheyan's face, and it did take him by surprise. It caused him to lean back at her abrupt forwardness.
"These days, my darling has been working way too much." Xiong Jingfei touched his face and made it seem like she was smoothing away those black circles from his under eyes, although there wasn't any! "You're making me sad. It's too bad that the cause of these dark circles isn't because of me."
Yang Zheyan's eyes flared open at what she was teasing him about. He quickly leaned forward and did it until her back lay flat on the sofa while his body covered hers completely.
"What's wrong? I thought this is what you wanted." Yang Zheyan grinned, rubbing his thumb on her lips. "I would never reject your advances. Instead, I welcome them with open arms."